RINO HUNTERS, TALLY HO!!!!
Owl_Eagle
" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"
Posted on 02/18/2004 9:42:39 AM PST by .cnI redruM
Now that John Kerry is the slam-dunk Democratic presidential nominee, all of the political speculation turns to the selection of his running mate.
He needs to pick someone who is an ideological soul mate and agrees with him on most big issues. Someone with an unimpeachable record of successfully and consistently arguing the case for left-of-center policies: liberal judicial appointees, smaller tax cuts, bigger investment in social-welfare programs. Someone from a large and competitive state. Someone who will further energize the left-wing base of the Democratic party. Someone who knows how to pick fights with conservatives on key issues of the day. Someone with a proven track record of getting the Rockefeller Republicans to vote for him.
Democrat strategists are considering Senators John Edwards, Evan Bayh, and former Senator Max Cleland. But they are overlooking a more ingenious choice: Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Hold on a minute, you're probably thinking. A Kerry-Specter 2004 ticket? Isn't Arlen Specter a Republican? Well, yes, but a Republican in Name Only (RINO). Over the past 25 years, no one in the United States Senate with an "R" next to his name has voted for so many liberal Democratic policies. Specter has about the lowest American Conservative Union rating of any other senator who bothers calling himself a Republican and close to the worst National Taxpayers Union. The American Civil Liberties Union gives him two enthusiastic thumbs up.
Specter passes the Left's two litmus tests. He is unapologetically pro-abortion. He even supports taxpayer-funded abortions — which is consistent with his position of supporting taxpayer funding of everything. Citizens Against Government Waste recently awarded Specter with the "Pork Barrel Spender of the Year" trophy. He is also the trial lawyers' best friend in Pennsylvania and he has unhesitatingly voted against doctors and patients and for the trial-bar lobby, the Democrats' cash cow. His son is one of the best-paid trial lawyers in all of Pennsylvania.
Unions have no complaints with Arlen Specter either. He is no friend of right-to-work legislation and he always votes to raise the minimum wage.
Perhaps his strongest qualification for the job is that he and Kerry agree on so much. They are two liberal peas in the same pod. A new TV ad running in Pennsylvania sponsored by my organization, the Club for Growth, notes that in recent years Kerry and Specter have voted together as often as 71 percent of the time. (You can see the ad on Clubforgrowth.org.) That's about as often as Al Gore and Joe Lieberman agreed with each other.
And whereas Lieberman's positions often gave left-wing Democrats indigestion for his support of policies like a capital-gains tax cut and school choice, Specter's positions rarely collide with orthodox liberalism. For example, Specter was the only Republican in the Senate to oppose the Washington, D.C. school-choice initiative to give thousands of inner-city minority children better educational opportunities — when even the liberal black mayor of Washington, Anthony Williams, pleaded the case for choice.
Kerry, of course, wants to raise taxes on the rich if he becomes president. He will get little argument from Specter. Over the years Specter has voted for six tax hikes — so where would the harm be in perhaps being the tie-breaking vote for a seventh.
Now it is true that Specter has a number of votes that have antagonized liberals. Perhaps most unforgivable to the left-wing extremists is that he strongly endorsed Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. But Specter was one of the few Republicans to vote to "bork" Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork, thus torpedoing this Reagan nominee, much to the glee of groups like People for the American Way. Some of the "hate Bush" Democratic-party faithful may complain that Specter voted for the Bush tax cut this year, but it's also true he voted with Tom Daschle to slash $300 billion out of the original Bush tax plan.
The good news for Senator Kerry is that few Republicans would howl much in protest if the Democrats stole him away. Specter is the last of a dying breed of left-wing northeastern big-government Republicans, who manages to only tilt the Republican Senate caucus further from its conservative base. That's why Specter is in the fight of his life right now for the Republican nomination against conservative Congressman Pat Toomey. Moreover, conservatives are quivering at the thought of Arlen Specter as the next Judiciary Committee chairman. He could probably do less damage as Kerry's running mate.
And here is the perfect campaign slogan: Kerry-Specter 2004: Liberal and Proud of It
The problem is he might come crawling back to the GOP. The RINOs will never forgive a conservative for being in another party and then coming to the GOP fold to get a high profile position (Bob Smith), but if you're a RINO it's perfectly okay to be in the enemy party and then switch to the GOP in order to get elected (Specter, Liddy Dole, etc.)
Owl_Eagle
" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"
But in reality he's too old to be a viable candidate for VP.
Try voting for him in April first.
SD
Yep. Usually there's nothing to vote for in the primaries. Not this time.
SD
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